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Overview

This book provides vital descriptive information on how to design buildings, detail components, specify materials and product, and avoid common pitfalls--all in a single volume.
* Now contains more information on construction documents and administration, prestressed and post-tensioned structural concrete, heavy timber framing, wood siding, and green materials.
* Features more than 1,200 illustrations, including hundreds of new and updated images.
* Includes metric units and U.S. customary units throughout.

Editorial Reviews

Booknews

New edition of a reference that provides in-depth coverage of virtually all accepted principles, materials, methods, codes, and standards used in the design and construction of residential, commercial, and institutional buildings. It covers the key practical issues involved in most construction, from site preparation to concrete finishing, masonry design to plastic fabrications, waterproofing to sprinkler systems, air conditioning to heat conveyance, and more. It also provides descriptive information on design basics, detail components, material and product specification, construction documentation, helpful pointers on how to avoid pitfalls commonly encountered in building design and construction, and guidelines for architects on how to handle the bidding and negotiation phases of a building construction project. Contains many b&w photographs and charts. Simmons is a construction consultant and specifications writer. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Preface

Construction: Principles, Materials, and Methods is a widely adopted course text in nearly 200 colleges and universities offering architectural and building technology curricula. It is also becoming a standard reference source in professional offices.

This seventh edition is the result of almost 40 years of research and editorial effort costing several million dollars. During the book's first 19 years, much of this work was carried out in an ongoing membership education program initiated by the United States League of Savings Institutions in 1964. The sixth edition was the result of that research and a major program carried out during the 3 years prior to its publication by its publisher at that time, Van Nostrand Reinhold. This program consisted of completely revising the data in the previous edition to reflect the many changes that had occurred in the field and to bring that data up to date with latest industry standards. Furthermore, new data was added to introduce construction materials and methods not in general use when the previous edition was prepared. Materials and construction methods that relate to commercial construction, including high-rise buildings, were also included. Previous editions had primarily covered residential construction. The sixth edition addressed materials and methods used in both.

The seventh edition has been written to further develop the book as a modern teaching and research tool for residential, commercial, and institutional building construction. To this end, the seventh edition contains more than 1100 pages divided into 16 chapters. The organization and names of these chapters are similar to those used in MasterFormat which makes this edition easier to relate to the specifications and data filing formats currently being used in the construction industry. A list of applicable MasterFormat sections has been included as a subsection in each chapter. The numbers and titles listed there are from MasterFormat (1995 edition), which is published by the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) and Construction Specifications Canada (CSC) and is used with permission from CSI, 1999. For those interested in a more in-depth explanation of MasterFormat and its use in the construction industry, contact:

An attempt has been made in the seventh edition to cover every principle, material, and method used to design and construct both large and small buildings of most types. The information presented includes the background and history of the materials and systems described. In each case, materials and their manufacture are discussed first, followed by the methods of construction used to erect these materials.

Earlier editions of this book, which were directed primarily toward the home construction portion of the construction industry, included coverage, much of it extensive, of wood construction; masonry; interior and exterior finishes; heating, ventilating, and air conditioning; plumbing; electrical systems; and many other subjects as they related to small residential construction. The sixth edition included most of these as well, but supplemented them with information about materials and methods used in the construction of other building types. The construction systems covered included those of both precast and cast-in-place concrete, steel, wood, and masonry. The discussions of mechanical and electrical systems were still limited to requirements for residential construction. Other subjects covered in earlier editions were expanded to address most kinds of commercial, larger residential, and institutional buildings. As a result, the sixth edition introduced materials and systems used in most types of building construction.

Coverage was given to industry standards, codes, land surveys and descriptions, properties of materials, barrier-free design, metrication, sitework (including excavation, grading, shoring, sheeting, and other earthwork), and sound control in buildings.

The seventh edition covers most of the subjects addressed in the sixth edition, but supplements it with much new data. New subjects in the seventh edition include a discussion of the architect's role in building design and construction, including the development of construction documents, and the architect's responsibilities during the bidding and negotiation phase and during the construction phase of a building construction project. The sections on codes and standards have been expanded to include discussion of their effect on building design. Additional subjects include glass-fiber-reinforced concrete, concrete toppings, cement-based underlayment, glass unit masonry, miscellaneous metal fabrications, heavy timber framing, finish carpentry, wood siding, metal roofing, door hardware, stone flooring, resinous flooring, wall coverings, fire protection specialties, residential appliances, unit kitchens, elevators, and fire sprinkler systems. The discussions of mechanical systems have been greatly expanded to include information related to buildings other than residences. For example, there is coverage of the different types of HVAC systems, including heating systems (forced air, air-water, steam, water, electrical), components (boiler types, furnaces, controls, finned tube radiators, radiant heaters and panels, heat recovery systems, ducts, pipes, diffusers, grilles, and registers), and fuels (coal, gas, electricity). Cooling systems are also covered, including discussions of the refrigeration cycle, cooling components, heat pumps, direct refrigeration, and delivery systems (fan coil units, unit ventilators). The discussion of electrical systems has been expanded to include commercial lighting and cable distribution systems.

In addition, some chapters have been reorganized to make the data they contain more easily usable. For example, Chapter 5 now separates steel materials from steel products. Some material has been relocated to a chapter corresponding to its location in MasterFormat.

Metric equivalents have been added to measurements throughout the book. To avoid changing copyrighted figures, however, metric measure has not generally been added to them. Instead, Figure 1.827 is included, which lists metric conversions that are applicable to these figures.

Each chapter now has a section called "Additional Reading" that lists sources of additional information about the subjects discussed in that chapter. To make it easier for a reader to find data, the tables and other data in Appendix A of the sixth edition have instead been placed in the various chapters where the particular subjects are discussed. To enable a reader to more easily find references for the sources of information in the book, the data in the sixth edition's Appendix B, "References," has been moved to a section entitled "Acknowledgments and References" at the end of each relevant chapter.

In Appendix A, the seventh edition contains a list of the names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, and Web sites (where applicable) of the organizations, associations, and agencies that contributed either directly or indirectly to the book. Appendix B is an extensive glossary of terms used in the book.

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